


Cigarette Butts

by alayneni



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 17:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16223519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alayneni/pseuds/alayneni
Summary: Felicity owns one plant, a fern. She's very proud that her plant hasn't died yet and that she remembers to water it. On one such watering, she discovers a cigarette butt carelessly discarded in her precious plant. She gets very angry that someone defiled her plant. Olicity, Fluff, Au. Written for sissy love24.





	1. Cigarette Butts

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Arrow.

It was a nice pleasant Sunday morning perfect for getting some shopping done except Felicity Smoak was still in bed. She lived in a high end apartment complex in Star City. Every cluster of apartments surrounded a pool and party area. The night before, the new owner of the apartment opposite her, on the other side of the pool, threw a loud raucous party till 2:00am when some of her other neighbours finally had enough and called the cops. It took a further two hours for everyone to get out.

Despite the quality of her sleep the night before her body still woke her up at her usual time but she refused to get out of bed and forced herself drift back to sleep. A few more hours wouldn't hurt the chores that needed to be done around her apartment.

It was close to midday by the time she finally dragged herself out of bed. She felt all out of sorts because of the disruption to her sleep routine. It was so late she decided to skip breakfast and go straight into lunch, a microwave pizza, since she didn't feel like going anywhere. She was fairly sure no one would appreciate her grumpy mood today. After eating two slices, she grudgingly started her Sunday chores, starting with cleaning her laptop and tech equipment.

It was mid-afternoon by the time she reached to watering Max. Max was her fern that she had bought a year ago. He was situated on her open air porch that boarded the pool area. She was about to tip the watering can forward for water to pour down the snout when she noticed objects in her fern. She parted the leaves and carefully inspected her plant. The objects ranged from cigarette butts, chicken bones and a phone. Anger coursed through her system. How dare they violate her fern!

Felicity put her watering can down and marched over to her neighbour's apartment. Rumour was he was one of the billionaire brats that lived in the city. His parents had banned him from bringing home his flavour of the day so the trustafarian bought the apartment to entertain his flings. No one had yet to see him since he always arrived late at night. She reached his door and started banging loudly. As expected there was no answer but she knew he was there. The sleek Porsche parked in front of the apartment was a dead giveaway. The idiot was probably still asleep but Felicity was determined to keep banging until he answered.

After a few minutes of knocking she began to wonder if she should deface his car. Maybe he would appreciate the cigarette butts and chicken bones glued to his car? She was so busy staring at his car while she knocked that she didn't realize the door had opened until her hand landed on hard muscle.

"What do you want?" a deep irritated voice asked.

Felicity turned her attention back to the door. A tall man with beautiful blue eyes, closed crop brown hair, five o'clock shadow across his jaw line and perfect abs greeted her. He was dressed only in his boxer briefs which gave her a fantastic view of his chiselled body. Her mind momentarily drew a blank. She had never been faced with such perfectness before. He was closing the door when Felicity's neurons started firing again and she kicked her foot forward to stop him.

"There are cigarette butts in my fern," she said angrily.

"So?" he asked as if it wasn't important.

"So! That's all you have to say. Your friends violated my fern. They put it in there and I'm not cleaning up after them Mr. Queen," Felicity stated. Her brain had finally put a name to the face. The man standing in front of her was most definitely the infamous Oliver Queen. In a way it made sense that he didn't care about the fern. He was noted for a peeing on a cop car. If he could do that without remorse, then the violation of a fern wouldn't mean a thing to him. Well she was going to change that.

"I paid the apartment complex to clean up after the party," he stated irritated.

"And they did. The pool area is clean but my fern is on my porch and they are not expecting private property to be violated," Felicity retorted fiercely.

"It's your fern. Clean it up yourself," he replied disinterested.

"But it's not my mess!" Felicity said offended. "I don't see why I should have to pick up the trash after you entitled rich kids."

"At least they didn't throw up in it," he pointed out and lifted his large hand to his face to cover a yawn. It just served to raise her anger further because he got to sleep in while she had chores to do.

"Is that all you can say. No wonder your parents threw your ungrateful ass out. Be an adult for a change. Put on some pants and clean up my fern!" Felicity demanded.

"You don't know anything about me," he replied angrily clearly offended by her comment.

"You're right, I don't, but because of you mister," Felicity said poking him on the chest with her index finger, "Max was violated."

Felicity ordered her brain not to focus on how hard his chest was or how perfect his muscles looked.

"Who's Max?" he asked confused.

"My fern! Can't you keep up!" she screamed in frustration.

He stared at her as if she were a mad woman. This was exactly why she wasn't supposed to leave her apartment when she was in a grumpy mood. People always thought she was crazy.

She crossed her hands over her chest to force them to behave or they would go wild swinging all over the place. "Well are you gonna put on some clothes or are you going to clean Max half naked?" she asked because he was definitely cleaning up Max. That wasn't up for debate.

"Give me a few minutes," he mumbled closing the door.

"I'll start back banging in five minutes if you're not out by then," she yelled at the closed door. She pulled out her phone and started the timer.

* * *

Oliver looked at the time on the clock stand. It was 3:32pm much too early to be dealing with crazy chicks. Usually he would ignore them but he got the distinct feeling that this one would not give up until he cleaned her stupid fern. The thought of calling security to deal with her crossed his mind but she was his neighbour and he really didn't want everyone knowing he had moved into that complex.

He should have known that when he told Tommy it was ok to throw him a small house warming party that it would be the exact opposite. It took him forever to get the people Tommy invited out of his apartment. This one chick stripped down naked and tied herself to his bed. He had to call Laurel's dad to come and deal with her. Carrie Cutter had been her name and Quentin had advised him to file a restraining order. Being one of the most wanted bachelors in Star City was harder than it sounded.

Oliver walked to his bedroom and pulled on his nearest jeans and a grey Henley. His phone started ringing and he went to the bedside to answer it.

"Yes Thea?" he asked irritated. If it was not some Crazy Fern Lady bothering him, it was his little sister.

"Oh you're actually awake. Guess I lost that bet," she mused sarcastically.

"What do you want?" Oliver asked. He really didn't have time for his sister's snarky attitude at the moment.

"Oh I'm just doing you a favour by reminding you that we have to attend dinner at mom's house tonight. Remember her big announcement," she said.

"Crap," Oliver said. He had forgotten about that. It was just another reason why he shouldn't have had a party the night before.

"What time are you picking me up?" she asked.

"Why am I picking you up? Can't you get a driver to take you?" he asked her.

Oliver had chosen to move out of Queen Mansion to be on his own. It was the exact opposite of what his mother wanted. His father and his mother had divorced two years ago and his mother lived in her own house since the Queen Mansion was to stay in the Queen family.

Oliver and Thea were Robert's heirs and she wanted them to live in their house. Just after the divorce his father's mistress Isabel moved in and wasted no time in providing another heir. Isabel was more than happy when Oliver moved out but he didn't care. He was fed up of playing her games and wanted to live his life on his terms. She couldn't touch his trust fund, his shares or position in the company or the fact that the house would indeed be left to him as first born.

His father was not messing with that tradition for anyone.

"Nope. I cursed Isabelle yesterday when she tried to interfere in father-daughter time. Dad wasn't too pleased. Said something about cutting ungrateful children off. Looks like you're stuck with me," she chirped happily. He had no idea what she was so happy about. Their mother would have an epic meltdown if she heard that.

"Fine, I'll be there at 6:30pm," he stated gruffly. He hated driving out to the Mansion. Isabel would probably stand their smugly with her son in her arms. Everyone knew she only picked up her son when she wanted to gloat to Oliver or Thea.

"You could be a bit nicer on the phone you know," his sister pointed out to him.

"I'm a bit busy Thea. I have something to do," Oliver ground out.

"Something or someone?" Thea quipped.

"Goodbye Thea," Oliver said hanging up on her.

He opened the door and found Crazy Fern Lady with her phone in her hand. The timer was actually running and he could see he had five seconds left. Crazy Fern Lady was really uptight. She probably needed to get laid. Oliver followed her around the pool to the apartment directly opposite him. If he opened the curtains to his porch he would be staring into her porch. She swung open the stupid little gate thing to access the porch from the pool and pointed to the other corner. Oliver followed her line of sight.

"That's the fern!" he exclaimed.

The angry crease in her forehead came back. "Yes that is Max, my fern," she confirmed.

"Looks more like a green monstrous bush," he said to purposely irritate her.

He watched with pleasure as her mouth fell open at the insult.

"Mr. Queen, you are one of the most insufferable men I have ever met!" she exclaimed.

He smirked. She was kind of cute when she was upset.

"Are you going to clean it or not?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said walking over to the bush.

There was a brightly coloured watering can on the ground next to it and Oliver moved it to the side before he kicked it over and Crazy Fern Lady went off on him about flooding her porch. He parted the leaves of the fern and sure enough there were quite a few cigarette butts in it.

"Is that a chicken bone?" he asked disgusted.

"Yes," she replied primly. Her hands were crossed over her chest and if it were possible he thought smoke would be coming out of her ears and nostrils.

"How am I supposed to clean this?" he asked."You can't expect me to put my hand in there!"

She arched an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "You run a multi-billion dollar corporation and you don't know how to do something as simple as clean a fern?"

"Correction, my father runs the multi-billion dollar corporation. I am still learning. What I meant was I need some form of protection for my hands if I'm to put them in your plant! You don't own a pair of gloves or something?" he asked.

"Don't you?" she fired back at him.

"No," he answered honestly. Gloves weren't really high on his priority list. What would he need gloves for anyway? Raisa was supposed to come out once a week to clean his apartment for him.

"Fine, I'll have to drive you to Walmart to get you a pair of gloves," she said angrily.

"Can't you just lend me some?" he asked irritated.

She held up her right hand, "Newsflash," she said using her left hand to point to her right hand, "My hands are much smaller than yours. My gloves won't fit you. I hope you have your wallet with you."

Oliver groaned. The day just kept getting worse and worse. He patted his jeans pocket and fortunately he felt his wallet in it. His car was back in front of his apartment. He would have to go back there, get the keys and then follow her to the store since he didn't know where the stores were yet. That would take time. He couldn't be late for dinner with his mother. That left him with no choice but to go with her.

He stared at her trying to decide if she was a threat to him. Yes she was crazy but physically, she was tiny. He was a trained black belt in four different disciplines; he doubted she could get the drop on him.

"Ok, let's go but if you try anything funny, you'll regret it," he said deadly serious.

She rolled her eyes, "You are probably the sexiest man I have ever met but I don't do idiots, no matter how attractive!" she blushed at the admission about his looks. "I'll meet you in front. I need to lock my apartment."

She entered her apartment through the back door, locking it when she closed the door, paranoid much? Oliver found his way to the front of her apartment. By the time he reached there she was standing in front of a red thing that might pass for a car.

"What is that?" he asked horrified. She couldn't expect him to get into that tiny car!

"My car!" she replied offended.

"I'm not getting in that," he stated. Why was he burdened with all the crazy ones? Tommy never had any of this trouble.

"I know it's not a Porsche but it is a very reliable and environmentally friendly car. Now get in," she ordered.

He sighed and opened the front passenger door. He had to squeeze himself into the front. He tried to push the seat back but it still didn't give him enough leg room. He shifted around a bit to try to get comfortable.

"It's not that bad!" she said as she started the engine.

"You haven't driven in a Porsche," he replied with side eye.

"No obviously not! Now stop being a dick about it," Crazy Fern Lady ordered.

Oliver paid attention to the route she took. The chances were high that he would have to come to the store as well to restock his apartment. His mother had been the one to stock it with groceries for him. He noticed that her car was surprisingly clean. His sister was famous for having a good portion of her shoes flung in the back seat area.

Crazy Fern Lady was also a decent driver. She came to a complete stop, not a rolling stop like him, at every stop sign even when it was clear, she didn't blow through any stop lights and she kept up with the flow of traffic. Within ten minutes they were at the store. She didn't bother trying to look for a spot near the store and parked at the end of the row.

"Wow you can actually park," he said when she reversed into the spot in one go.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked in confusion while she turned off the car and grabbed her purse she had tossed in the back seat.

"Just that everytime I'm waiting for someone to park, it's a woman," Oliver said as he got out of the car.

"That's just sexist!" she declared.

"Is it?" Oliver said pointing to a woman in a large SUV trying to park her car further up. The woman went forward and back, forward and back trying to get into the spot. Oliver knew he could have done it in two seconds.

"She just bought a car she can't drive properly," Felicity declared. "Honestly, people should stick to cars that they are capable of driving."

"Mmmhhh," Oliver said with a cocky grin.

She turned away from him and started marching up to the store. His longer stride ensured he kept up with her easily. She went straight to the section that contained gloves and selected something appropriate for him. He accepted her choice and they went to the front of the store to pay for them. Oliver decided to irritate her again. As the cashier rang up the gloves he said loudly. "Oh I forgot the box of condoms."

He saw her blush furiously but when he smirked she picked up on what he was doing.

"I think all the size smalls were finished," she said to him. She was very quick with the comebacks.

"Actually, I need extra-large," he boasted waving his large hand in front of her face.

She snorted at him, "The only thing extra-large about you, is your ego," she responded.

The cashier cleared his throat, "Sir are you going to pay or are you going to get another item?"

Oliver reluctantly let her have the last word for now and pulled out his black amex card to pay for it.

She picked up the gloves while he was paying and started heading for the car. She was already seated in it with the engine on when he caught up to her.

"If that is how you behave all the time I can only imagine the example you set for your younger sister," she commented when they were pulling out of the car park.

"Look lady, you don't know anything about me. I set a great example for her. Let's just get back to your apartment and clean the damn fern," Oliver said angrily.

"No objections there," she replied.

Fifteen minutes later Oliver was combing through the fern pulling out all sorts of things and putting it in the garbage bag that Felicity supplied.

"Whose phone do you think that is?" she asked him when he pulled it out.

"I have no idea," he answered. "Does this place have a lost and found?"

"In the administrative office but no one will be there till tomorrow," she told him.

"I think that's the last of it," he said combing through one more time. It was after five and he needed to get back to his apartment to bathe and change before heading out to get Thea.

"Great as long as my fern stays clean, we shouldn't have any more problems," she told him with a large smile.

Oliver gave her a forced smile. "Great." He was finally done with Crazy Fern Lady.


	2. Crazy Fern Lady

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. Thank you to my lovely beta Meagan for this chapter.

Oliver arrived home at 10:00pm completely exhausted. He spent the entire day accompanying his father to meetings and then when the clock hit 5 o'clock and he thought it was finally time to go home, his father wanted to discuss the outcomes of the meetings. That had taken over four hours. By the time his father was done with him, he was starving and irritated that for the entire week he hadn't been able to get home before 10:00pm. A quick stop at Big Belly Burger, his fourth for the week, solved his hunger problem but he was still irritated and tired. If he hadn't promised Tommy he would come to the club tonight he would be heading straight to bed.

He glanced out his window to see the lights on in Crazy Fern Lady's apartment. He really needed to stop calling her by that name before he said it to her face. He had seen her quite a few times over the last month. The first time was at the mailboxes. He had a hard time getting his box open and she helped him though he could clearly see the judgement in her eyes. After that he saw her a few times by the pool, mostly on the weekends when it was hot outside.

In order to get out of the compound he had to drive pass her apartment every morning. Most times her car was gone by the time he made it there but a few times she was heading to her car dressed very professionally. One time he was behind her as he drove out. They drove all the way to Queen Consolidated but she kept going straight as he turned to go into QC's underground car park. There were several other multinational companies on that street that she could be working for. He wondered if they knew she was crazy?

He threw all thoughts of her out of his head and he entered his bedroom. He took off his clothes and threw them on top of the large pile to wash. Raisa was supposed to be helping him but Isabel had stopped that from happening. She had manipulated his father into declaring that Oliver needed to learn to do things without Raisa's assistance. That meant he needed to cook, clean and do the washing himself.

He opened his closet and couldn't find the pants and shirt he was going to wear. He glanced at the pile and saw said outfit peeking out from the bottom. He pulled the shirt out of the pile and smelt it to see if it passed the smell test. It failed. He really should do his laundry. He didn't think going out to buy a shirt every time he needed one was the responsible thing to be doing.

He picked up his washing and walked over to the closet door that hid the washing machine and dryer. He opened the closet, lifted the lid on the machine and threw the clothes in. The machine could only accommodate a fifth of the pile. He closed the lid and expected it to start. When it didn't he stared at the washing machine. There were so many buttons. Was there a simple on and off switch? He pulled out his phone and called his on-again off-again girlfriend Laurel Lance. They were currently in an on period so he was hopeful he would get some advice.

"Hey Ollie," she answered happily.

"Hey babe, do you know how to turn on the washing machine in my apartment?" he asked.

"I thought Raisa was doing that for you?" she replied.

"Isabel put a stop to that. I was hoping you could come over and help me?" he pleaded.

"You want me to do your washing for you?" Laurel asked angrily.

"No I wan ..." he tried to explain but was cut off.

"Guess what Ollie, I'm not your maid! I won't ever be doing your laundry even when we're married!" she screamed at him before hanging up the phone.

Guess they might be off again. That was probably good since he was going to the club tonight. She never liked it when he went to the club.

He placed both hands on the washing machine and stared at the counsel willing it to tell him what to do. He definitely needed help. It was too late to call Raisa. He wasn't sure his mother would be any help either. His sister and Tommy would be in the same boat as him and he didn't want to call any of his other friends because they would just laugh at him.

He glanced out the window and saw the lights were still on at Crazy Fern Lady's place. It was worth a try. She already had a very low opinion of him. He had nothing to lose.

* * *

Felicity was half way through the latest episode of one of her favourite shows when there was a knock at her door. She glanced at the time, 10:25 pm. Maybe she could ignore it. No one ever knocked on her door. She barely knew her neighbours except for Mr. Queen, if you could count her one encounter with him as getting to know him. She had seen him around a few times after that and even helped him get into his mailbox but they never really conversed.

The knock came again and Felicity realised she had to answer the door. She walked to her purse and pulled out her taser. Even though she lived in a very good area, it was always best to be prepared. She picked up her tablet and pulled up the feed for the little mini camera she had hidden above her door. She had watched enough horror movies to know never to look through the peephole. She was surprised to see Oliver Queen standing in front of her door.

He knocked again and against her better judgement she decided to open the door. She checked her appearance in the mirror she was still in her work skirt and a blouse so she was presentable.

"Yes Mr. Queen," she said cooly as she opened the door.

"Hey," he said pleasantly.

He was still in his work clothes minus the suit jacket and he looked like a Greek God. She forced herself to push away all thoughts about his physical appearance. "I suppose you need something?"

He looked away bashfully and ran his hand through his short hair. Her mind wandered what it would be like if she ran her hand through his hair before she pulled her mind back.

"I was wondering if you could help me with the washing machine? There are just too many buttons," he said sheepishly.

"I know what you mean. I had to google it myself. I'm accustomed to the simple turn the knob and pull to start but no they had to go and complicate it. I mean I'm a huge fan of technology, really I am but there are some things that are just better off left simple. Why can't I dump my clothes in the machine, add detergent and press start?" she said.

"Is that a yes?" he asked hopefully.

She looked at him dubiously. Oliver Queen was asking her to help him wash his clothes? That was just a bit fishy. Didn't he have like a million maids or something?

"Please," he pleaded. "Look, I'm going to the club as soon as I get the clothes washed and dried. You can come with me," he suggested.

"You want me to go the club with you?" she asked suspiciously. She knew the club he was referring to was the famous Verdant owned by his best friend Tommy Merlyn. His social circle frequented there, plebs like her usually had to stand in a long line outside and cross their fingers to get in. She heard a few colleagues relate horror stories about never getting in even after waiting for four hours.

"In exchange for helping me with my clothes because I can't go to the club naked again," Oliver explained.

"Something tells me the women and maybe a portion of the men in the club would appreciate a naked Oliver Queen," she replied cheekily.

"No," he said emphatically. "I'll pay for all your drinks," he upped the offer.

Free drinks! Felicity liked the sound of that but she still needed to be cautious. "And all I have to do is tell you what buttons to push on the machine?" she clarified. "And by machine I mean the washing machine that cleans your clothes."

"Yes," he answered simply.

"Ok, let me just get my clothes," she winced, "I meant keys."

"Oh and I might need to borrow your detergent," he added as an afterthought.

Felicity gave him a fake smile, "Of course you do."

She closed the door, grabbed her keys and her detergent before heading back to the front where Oliver was patiently waiting for her. She followed him to his apartment. It was exactly like her own apartment so she knew where to go to find the laundry area.

"Wow that's a large pile. Is this the first time you are doing laundry since you moved in? Don't answer that, of course it is or you wouldn't be asking for help with the machine. Considering whom you are this is probably the first time you're even doing laundry in your life!"

"The machine?" he prompted her.

She walked over to the machine, "There are clothes in here already," she said perplexed.

"Well I tried to do it myself," Oliver said.

"Hmm," she mumbled reaching in and taking clothes out.

"Why are you emptying it?" he asked horrified.

"Because you overloaded it! You are not supposed to stuff as much clothes as possible into the machine. How are they supposed to get clean?" she asked.

Oliver shrugged.

Felicity looked at him and realised this was going to take a while, "Ok, step 1," she started. She spent twenty minutes explaining the washer then the dryer to him before they agreed she would meet him in front his apartment in two hours. On the way out it occurred to her that she never told him her name. She stopped and turned to face him, "I'm Felicity by the way," she said holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Oliver," he said shaking her hand, "But you already knew that. At least now you can stop calling me Mr. Queen. I hate that."

"We'll see how tonight goes Mr. Queen," she said with a teasing smirk. Oh how she loved to ruffle his feathers.

* * *

Two hours later, he watched Felicity relax into the leather seat of his Porsche, "Definitely better right?" Oliver smirked.

"It will do," Felicity said with pursed lips refusing to admit the obvious.

He pushed the button and his car roared to life.

"You know all that power under the hood but do you know how to use it?" Felicity challenged him.

Oliver turned to her with a very cocky smirk, "I know how to handle it." Challenge accepted.

He put the car into reverse and as tempted as he was to floor the accelerator he didn't. He slowly left the residential compound and started in the direction of the club. There was a long route that he could take that had a straight stretch of road that was perfect to show her just how well he could handle the car.

When he turned to take the long route, he saw her shift uncomfortably in the seat. "What club are we going to?" she asked a slight bit of fear lacing her voice.

"Relax I'm not a serial killer. We're taking the long route. There's this stretch of road..."

"Right the drag racing stretch," Felicity finished for him.

"You know about that?" he asked amazed.

"A co-worker or two are really into their cars. They like to test their performance upgrades against others," she explained.

"Have you ever raced?" he asked curiously.

"We don't know each other well enough for me to answer that question," she said to him with a smirk.

He nodded. They soon came to the stretch and Oliver floored the accelerator. She didn't even react so she definitely hadn't been bluffing. At the end of the road Oliver slowed down.

"It's passable," she stated in a bored tone.

"Just passable," he asked in disbelief. She really was crazy to think his car was just passable.

"Well that was a straight stretch of road. Do you know how to corner with her?" Felicity asked.

"You're harder to impress than any other girl I've ever met?" he replied frustrated.

"Is that what you're trying to do Mr. Queen, impress me?" she asked with a teasing glint in her eye.

"I'm trying to get you to stop calling me Mr. Queen," he responded irritated.

"Keep trying... Mr. Queen," she stated with a coy smile.

Oliver was ready to bang his head against the steering wheel. Crazy Fern Lady was just so frustrating! He decided it was probably best to remain silent until he reached the club. When they were almost there Felicity spoke up.

"Uh can we not go through the front entrance?" she asked suddenly.

"Why?" questioned her. Everyone always wanted to go through the front entrance with him.

She inclined her head towards where there was a line of paparazzi taking pictures of people entering the club, "I really don't want to be known as your flavour of the day!" she explained.

"Fine there's a back entrance," Oliver said swinging right hard and going down a side alley to a private parking lot in the back. There were no photographers there. The security guard let them in to park and he walked them to the back door.

They had just gotten through the back entrance when a voice called out, "Oi Ollie."

"Tommy," Oliver said with a small smile.

"And who is this lovely lady?" Tommy asked turning on the charm as soon as he noticed Felicity by his side.

Oliver frowned and Tommy burst out laughing.

"Oh man. You should see your faces. You both frowned at the same time. And I have some bad news for you Oliver. You have the Moira Queen look of disapproval down pat!" Tommy said slapping him on the back.

"What? I don't have my mother's disapproval look," Oliver said still frowning.

He saw Felicity peering up at him curiously. "Oh my god, he does," Felicity agreed with Tommy.

"You introduced her to your mother?" Tommy asked in surprise.

"You met my mother?" Oliver asked her at the same time.

"It was a work related thing," Felicity answered cryptically.

Oliver's curiosity was peaked. He knew she didn't work at QC and he couldn't figure out what she did that would bring her into contact with his mother.

"Let's go up to the VIP section," Tommy said preventing Oliver from continuing the conversation any further.

Oliver followed Tommy up the back staircase to the VIP area that overlooked the main dance floor below. He noticed Felicity was looking around taking everything in. He saw the usual crowd seated on the sofas and as soon as the waitress spotted him she made her way over to take their order.

Both Tommy and himself asked for the usual, whiskey neat and the waitress turned to Felicity.

"Uhm, can I see a drinks menu?" she asked uncertainly.

The waitress looked at her like she was an alien. No one in VIP ever asked for a menu. You just ordered because Tommy was supposed to have what you wanted.

Tommy laughed to ease any tension that might have formed, "Anything you ask for we have," he assured her.

"Lafite Rothschild 1982?" she asked him.

Tommy whistled, "That we don't have but I can offer you another exquisite wine from my personal collection."

Felicity accepted his offer and Tommy turned towards the waitress giving her instructions to retrieve a bottle from his office and bring two wine glasses as he would share the bottle with her since good wine should never go to waste.

"You know your wine," Oliver said to her while Tommy was busy with the waitress.

Felicity shrugged, "I like wine."

Oliver decided to cancel his order for whiskey and share the bottle with them. They sat at their usual sofa and Tommy opened the bottle when it arrived. He poured Felicity first, then Oliver then himself.

"This is good," Felicity said when she took a sip.

"No toast?" Tommy teased.

"Nothing to toast to," she replied.

"We could toast to Oliver paying for this bottle," Tommy happily suggested.

"To Oliver," Felicity said raising her glass in the air and gently knocking Tommy's.

Oliver groaned but he supposed he should be happy that she stopped calling him Mr. Queen.

"I like her," Tommy declared. "How did you two meet?"

"I'm his neighbour. I live across the pool from him," Felicity explained.

Oliver saw Tommy's eyebrows scrunch together as he was thinking. He was hoping Tommy wouldn't think too hard on it but that was wishful thinking.

"Wait you're Crazy Fern Lady!" Tommy declared pointing at Felicity in awe.

Oliver groaned. Felicity was not supposed to know he called her that.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Never mind Tommy, he never listens to anything I say properly. He's more interested in the girls and the booze," Oliver stated quickly. He really didn't want her freaking out on him here.

"Hey!" Tommy protested. "There's a lot more to me like reputed club owner."

Oliver relaxed back on the sofa with his glass and tuned out the conversation that Tommy and Felicity were having about the success of the club. He noticed a busty brunette sending him flirtatious grins. Oliver encouraged the looks and glanced to the empty spot next to him on the sofa. The girl sashayed her way across to him and sat next to him. He was vaguely aware of Felicity and Tommy leaving him alone and heading down to the dance floor.

* * *

The arrival of a girl next to Oliver who looked like she stepped straight off the cover of _Vogue_ magazine was the signal to Felicity that she should make herself scarce. She really didn't want to get pulled too much into his life. Tommy seemed to have the same idea because he picked up the bottle of wine and she followed behind him down the stairs to the dance floor.

"I'll put the rest of this in my office where it's safe," he told her.

She nodded and she placed her empty glass by the bar and moved onto the dance floor. The music wasn't bad and the crowd was bouncing with the base. She pulled out her phone and took a selfie. She made sure the picture captured the distinctive bar Verdant had and the staircase that led up to the VIP area. She sent the picture to her co-worker Alena with the caption 'Guess where I am?'

She put the phone away and started moving to the rhythm. There were a couple showy dancers and from her experience in Vegas she knew to stay away from them. Those were the men that usually had multiple girlfriends. A few guys approached her to dance but one really caught her attention. He was taller than her, which wasn't that hard to be considering she was short, and he was lanky which she didn't mind. Muscled guys tended to be too hard headed for her.

After a few dances, they moved over to one of the tables at the side of the dance floor. He wasn't drinking because he was the designated driver but he offered to buy Felicity a drink. Tommy appeared out of nowhere with another glass of wine for her as well as a wink and then he left her alone. They struck up a good conversation. He was really sweet and respectful. She found out his name was Billy and he was a cop with the SCPD. Eventually he had to go because the guys he was with were really drunk and he had to take them home. They agreed to meet for coffee in a few days.

She returned to the dance floor and pretty soon the DJ announced it was the last dance. Felicity decided to make her way back to the VIP section to see if she had a ride home or if she had to call a cab. She wouldn't be surprised if she needed the cab. Oliver hadn't said anything about taking her back home and he seemed awfully busy with the brunette that had settled next to him.

The guards at the base of the stairs that led up to the VIP section looked at her sceptically and she had to remind them that she came down earlier with Tommy Merlyn for them to let her back up. She arrived at the top of the stairs to find Oliver arguing with a tall woman she recognised as Laurel Lance from the gossip magazines.

"Cab it is then," Felicity mumbled to herself taking out her phone.

Alena had responded and also shared the photo with their entire work group. Everyone was demanding to know how she got in. She was not going to tell them how she got in. She had just pulled up the app to request a cab when Oliver called out to her.

* * *

The brunette held Oliver's attention for all of five minutes before he got fed up with the generic lines. He politely excused himself and went to the railing to see where Tommy and Felicity had disappeared to. He spotted Tommy at the bar with a redhead and it took him a while to find Felicity in the crowd. He watched her dance with a few guys before she seemed to settle on one. Oliver didn't think much of the guy she seemed to like.

He saw them headed to a table and he called a waitress to him. He asked her to tell Tommy to take another glass of wine to Felicity. He was paying for a very expensive bottle of wine, she better drink it. As soon as Tommy put the glass in front of her she was reaching for a sip. At least she wasn't one of those floozies that made him spend money and didn't appreciate it.

A slim pair of arms wrapped around his midsection. He looked down and the rings on her fingers told him it was Laurel. Something told him his night was about to get much worse.

"Hello Ollie," she whispered in his ear.

"I thought you were angry with me Laurel," he stated moving out of her embrace. He put a little bit of distance between them and then turned to face her. She was dressed in a black halter dress that stopped at her mid thigh, showing off her long lean legs. Her hair was up in some style and it showcased her neck, a neck he liked to trail kisses along.

"What makes you think I'm not?" she asked looking him up and down and licking her lips.

"You're here at the club," he pointed out in a serious tone. He really hated playing her mind games. He never understood why she just couldn't come out and say what she wanted. He always had to guess what it was she expected from him and he usually guessed wrong.

"I came to collect my man," she said confidently. "Now take me home."

Oliver frowned, "Can't you go back home with who brought you?"

"Why would I? My boyfriend is here. I expect to go home with my boyfriend," she stated

Oliver sighed and ran his hand through his short hair, "I thought we broke up earlier on the phone. Besides I can't take you home Laurel, I'm taking Felicity home." After the words left Oliver's mouth he realised that he probably hadn't phrased that very well.

Laurel scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, "Who the fuck is Felicity?"

"Laurel calm down," Oliver said holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Calm down, you expect me to calm down. How am I supposed to calm down when my boyfriend said he's taking some other woman home tonight," she said angrily.

"Laurel it's not like that," he said calmly.

"Oh then how is it Ollie?" she spat at him as she tilted her head to the side.

Oliver opened his mouth to clarify but Laurel cut him off.

"Don't answer that. She's probably one of the skanks in this room that sidled up to you when I wasn't here. What'd she offer to do for you Ollie? Gosh you would think you would grow up by now and stop chasing skirts!" she yelled.

"Laurel," Oliver said this time a little bit louder.

"Don't Laurel me, just take me home," she said with narrowed eyes.

"I can't," Oliver replied. He caught sight of Felicity at the top of the stairs with her phone in her hand.

"Felicity," he called out to her hoping that when Laurel saw her she would realise how wrong she was.

Felicity looked up innocently at the same time Laurel's head swivelled in her direction. Oliver realised that was another mistake when Laurel started walking aggressively towards Felicity.

"You're the skank that Oliver's taking home tonight," she accused, her index finger pointing at Felicity's face.

Felicity blinked, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me you whore," Laurel retorted.

Oliver expected Felicity to retaliate but she did the opposite by laughing. Her eyes found Oliver, "And I'm Crazy Fern Lady."

Oliver saw Laurel's hand rise and he did his best to get there in time but the sound of the slap echoed around the room. It was then Oliver realised the music was off which meant the club was closing. Oliver placed himself between Laurel and Felicity.

"Go home Laurel," Oliver said before grabbing Felicity's hand and taking her downstairs to Tommy's office.

"Ollie if you walk away from me, it's over for good," she screamed at him.

"Then its over," he called back over his shoulder to her.

He found Tommy at the bottom of the stairs with a confused expression. "Take Laurel home," he ordered.

"What happened now?" Tommy groaned. "I really don't want to sit in a car with her and listen to everything that's wrong in your relationship. I'm not a counsellor buddy."

"Just take her home," Oliver said.

"Perhaps you should take her home. I can get a cab," Felicity said pointing to her phone.

"No absolutely not. I brought you here," his hand gently cupped her face and he turned it to see a red mark where Laurel slapped her. "Tommy has ice packs in his office. We'll get one and go."

* * *

Felicity found herself in Oliver's car with an ice park over her left cheek and Oliver apologising profusely. Video of the incident had already spread like wildfire across the social media sites. Fortunately no one had identified her yet and when she got home she was going to make sure no trace of this video was left on the web.

"Oliver stop apologising," Felicity snapped pulling the ice pack away from her cheek. "You didn't slap me."

"No I didn't but I am responsible," he insisted his eyes focused on the road as he drove them home.

"Really you told her to walk up to me and slap me?" she asked him sarcastically.

"No but…."

"Then you're not responsible. Her actions are on her," Felicity told him firmly. She put the ice pack on the dashboard.

"Hey don't take that off yet," Oliver said worried.

"Oliver it was an open hand slap. No big deal. It's not like she punched me," Felicity replied. "It just stings for a while. I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about this damn video. I hope no one identifies me."

"I',..."

"Oliver so help me if you say I'm sorry one more time, Laurel won't be the only one with computer problems tomorrow," Felicity threatened.

"Computer problems?" Oliver asked confused.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this but for some strange reason I feel like I can trust you. Tomorrow, none, and I mean none, of Laurel's smart devices are going to be working. In fact her phone might start playing fart noises at random times during the day," Felicity said sullenly.

"How?" He glanced over at her quickly before turning back to the road.

"Because I am a tech genius," she stated proudly.

"That's why you didn't slap her back in the club?" Oliver guessed.

Felicity chuckled, "It's all about the strategy Oliver. I won't slap her back but that doesn't mean I can't have some fun at her expense," her stomach gurgled loudly. "Great," Felicity said embarrassed. "Now I'm hungry."

"At this hour, only Big Belly Burger will be open," Oliver informed her.

"You know about Big Belly Burger?" she asked surprised.

It was Oliver's turn to chuckle, "I've survived many a drunken night because of those burgers." He glanced at the time on the dashboard and sighed, "I guess another burger tonight won't kill me."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	3. Drunken Scare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. Thanks to my beta missmeagan666.

Oliver was awoken by the loud ringing of his cell phone. He glanced at the clock and found that it was 3:00am. The offensive object continued to ring on his night stand and against his better judgement, because no one he knew should be calling him at 3:00am on a Wednesday, he checked the phone to see who was calling him. He was not surprised to find that it was a number he didn't recognize. He ignored the call, placed his phone face down on the table and tried to return to sleep. It started vibrating. That was completely unacceptable. His father wanted him in the office at 7:30am for a pre-meeting discussion and he really needed his sleep if he was required to be a decent person at that hour of the morning. Oliver grabbed his phone and tried to turn it off but ended up answering the phone instead.

He heard someone say "Ollie," very faintly. Only his closest friends called him that but he knew all of their numbers by heart.

"Who the fuck is this?" Oliver growled into the phone.

"Ollie," he heard again. The voice was slurred but he would recongise it anywhere. Fear started to coil in his belly. She was not supposed to be awake at 3:00am in the morning calling from an unknown number.

"Thea, where are you?" he asked fearfully. He had no clue what his sister was up to but if it was anything like what he used to do when he was her age he knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Donsow," was the response he got which he couldn't decipher.

"Thea?" Oliver cried panic building in him.

"Give me the phone," he heard a male voice say in the background.

"Hello?" said voice said.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing with my sister?" Oliver growled. God help him because he was ready to murder whoever his sister was with.

"I'm the guy that took pity on your drunk ass sister, who by the way is so drunk she can't even walk properly. Her friends left her alone in a party in the Glades. She made the stupid decision to try to walk home, and dude, you're lucky she ran into me and not some of the other men in the Glades. Your sister would definitely be severely traumatized the next day, if she survived," the voice said.

"What do you want?" Oliver asked. Was this a kidnapping? Did they want a ransom for his sister?

"I want you to come and get your sister. She's a real pain in the ass," the guy complained.

"Where?" Oliver asked immediately.

"I'll text you the address but don't come in a fancy car. You'll attract too much attention and probably get robbed before you even get here," the male voice paused, "Hey Princess, don't go in there." Oliver knew he was talking to Thea. "Look just get here soon. This chick is a handful."

Oliver didn't need to be told twice. He jumped out of bed pulled on his jeans and a shirt and was reaching for the keys to the Porsche when he remembered the warning. Laurel had a Honda Accord but he had not spoken to her since the night at the club. He glanced out his window and saw the apartment opposite him over the pool. Felicity had some type of car. He made sure to grab his wallet and sprinted to her back door and started knocking on the glass.

"Felicity! Felicity! Open up please. It's Oliver," he yelled. He glanced around and saw a few lights flicker on in other apartments. He glanced down at Max in the corner and for some odd reason he thought he was disturbing the plant as well. He had only talked to Felicity twice and already he was picking up her crazy ways.

"Oliver this better be important," a grumpy Felicity responded as she opened the door to her porch. She had a big fluffy robe wrapped around her but Oliver paid no attention to that.

"It is. I need to pick up my sister in the Glades. Can I borrow your car?" he begged.

Felicity arched an eyebrow at him.

"Please? She's drunk and some random dude has her. He told me to come in a normal car," Oliver further explained, the information just tumbling out of him.

Felicity sighed heavily. "Meet me in front in a few minutes," she said sliding the door shut.

He ran around to her front door and just as he was about to knock on it she opened the door. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater with her purse in one hand and her car keys in the other. She stepped out of her apartment and locked the door behind her before strolling over to the driver's side of her car.

"Let's get going," she said. The lights on the car blinked and she opened the door to get into the driver's seat.

"You don't need to come with me," Oliver stated. "I promise I'll bring back your car safely and if it so much as has a scratch on it, I'll buy you a new car."

"Oliver, I am not letting you go into the Glades by yourself," she said. "Do you even know your way around?"

"Of course I know my way around. Tommy and I used to have quite the time in The Glades," Oliver answered.

"Then I guess it's not a surprise to find your sister is trying to have quite the time as well," Felicity quipped.

Oliver opened his mouth to retort but nothing came out. As much as he hated to admit it, Felicity was right. He had done the exact same thing that Thea was doing now. The main difference would probably be that he and Tommy always had each other's back. Oliver reluctantly slid into the passenger seat. It was just as cramped as he remembered from the first time he was in her car.

"Put the address into the GPS," Felicity said nodding to her hand held GPS that sat on the dashboard.

While Felicity backed out of the driveway Oliver concentrated on uploading the address. While he was not tech illiterate, he did have a hard time entering the address. For some reason technology detested him. He would rather use an old fashioned map than these fancy GPS systems. By the time the device accepted the address from him, they were slowly driving along the main boulevard that led to the Glades. A car went speeding by them.

"Can't you drive faster?" he asked annoyed.

"One, I want to get there alive and two, I don't want a speeding ticket," she answered in a brusque tone.

Just as she said that he heard police sirens. A police cruiser emerged from a side street up ahead and went after the car that went flying ahead of them.

"How long do you think they would have kept you waiting while you needed to get to your sister?" she asked him rhetorically.

God he hated how annoying she was. Why did she always have to be right! He clamped his mouth shut and tried to find a comfortable position as he watched the distance to Thea decrease on the GPS. He was vaguely familiar with this part of the Glades. He and Tommy tended to stick to the outskirts of the Glades but this address was in the heart of the Glades where the danger level was high. He did not know what his sister had been thinking. He hoped she had been at one of the haunts that he and Tommy went to but with her this deep she had to have gone somewhere else.

They pulled up in front of a flat house with plywood over the windows and over grown grass in front when the GPS announced they had arrived. Oliver didn't think twice, flying out of the car, up to the door and banging on it with all his strength. It was quite a sturdy door but he supposed if you lived in this place you had to have well-built doors. He glanced back at the car briefly to make sure Felicity was safe and he was horrified to see her stepping out of the car.

"Maybe you should stay in the car," he said to her.

"No," she said locking it and coming towards him.

"It's not safe," he stated as he continued to bang.

"I have a taser and I think I'm the only one between the two of us that's actually armed," she replied.

"I don't need a weapon," Oliver replied, "I am the weapon." Oliver glanced down at her hand to see she did in fact have a taser. Perhaps he should have come a bit more prepared?

The door opened and a shorter guy in his early twenties appeared on the other side. He was dressed in a red hoodie and jeans. "At last!" the guy grumbled. "She's on the couch but did you really have to announce your presence to the entire neighbourhood with all that banging."

Oliver stepped into the house and found his sister on an old mouldy couch. Her eyes were bloodshot, she wasn't focusing on anything and she could barely lift herself upright.

"Ollie," his sister slurred.

"Oliver, I think she needs a hospital," Felicity said concerned.

"No, I'm taking her home," he said picking her up easily. If he took her to the hospital, it would be all over the papers the next day. He was heading to the door when he realized that Felicity was talking to the boy.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" he heard Felicity asking the boy. Her tone was soft and gentle unlike any she had ever used with him.

"Just get her out," the kid said.

"Felicity come on," Oliver insisted.

"Sorry for the inconvenience," she said to the boy before she joined him on the way out.

Oliver spotted a few men on the other side of the road. He knew Felicity was a few feet behind him. "Open the car," he commanded.

The car lights blinked and he knew it was open. She picked up the pace and moved in front of him to open the back door.

"Stay in the back with her," Felicity commanded as she opened the front passenger door. Oliver was momentarily confused until he saw her close the door and scoot across to the driver's seat quickly. He was impressed that she had some level of street smarts to not expose herself to the men on the opposite side of the road.

He concentrated on getting into the tiny car as well and keeping an eye on the group of men that were growing closer to the car. Felicity started the engine and Oliver quickly pulled his feet inside the car before Felicity pulled off. The instant acceleration pressed him back into the seat and the door slammed closed next to him.

"Lock the doors," he instructed. She complied immediately.

Another group of men further down the road stepped into the street from the shadows. Felicity mounted the pavement to avoid them. The jerk of the jump caused Oliver to hit his head on the ceiling while Thea protested that the whole world was spinning rapidly. Once Felicity had passed the men she jumped back onto the road. The motion was too much for Thea and she threw up all over Felicity's back seat and floor mat.

"Is she throwing up?" Felicity asked glancing in the rear-view mirror.

"Yes," Oliver admitted guiltily. "I promise, I'll get your car cleaned. Don't worry about it."

Felicity lowered all four windows, "On the bright side, it's good that she's throwing up. It should get all the excess alcohol out of her system faster."

Oliver nodded dumbly. His sister should never have gotten herself in this position. When she sobered up he was going to have a serious talk with her.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Felicity was pulling into the spot next to Oliver's Porsche. She helped Oliver move Thea out of the car and inside the apartment. He was going to put her on the sofa but Felicity stopped him.

"Let's take her to the shower instead," Felicity suggested. "We need to clean her up."

Oliver looked down at his sister and realized that not only had she thrown up all over herself but also peed her pants as well.

Oliver changed directions and moved to the bathroom. Thea could not stand on her own so someone had to get into the shower with her. Felicity noticed that Oliver didn't feel comfortable bathing his sister so she took over from him.

"Just get her into the shower. I will do the rest," she ordered.

"Are you sure? She is my sister but I think she'll be very pissed tomorrow when I tell her I had to bathe her," Oliver explained.

"Then she shouldn't have gotten so drunk tonight," Felicity replied stepping into the shower with Thea. She reached for the hot water knob and turned it on.

"You're going to get wet," Oliver said.

"Thank you Mr. Obvious. I guess it's a good thing that I live twenty feet away. Does she by chance have any clothes here?" Felicity asked.

"No but I can find her something to wear." Oliver closed the door to the bathroom and left them alone.

Felicity was left alone in the shower with Oliver's younger sister. How did she get herself into these positions? Thea was not the first drunk she had helped. When you lived in Las Vegas and your mother worked as a cocktail waitress in one of the big hotels, you saw a lot of drunks. She had helped drunks find their room, find other people, find their wallets, even called 911 for a few too. Drunks she could handle easily what she couldn't figure out was why she seemed to be a magnet for drunks or was it just that everyone else ignored them and she was the only bleeding heart that couldn't.

The first step to dealing with Thea would be to remove her clothes. Felicity looked the girl up and down and cursed softly when she realised Thea was wearing leather pants. Those were going to be incredibly difficult to get off of her. Felicity realised that step one was going to be an exercise in patience.

Twenty minutes later Felicity emerged from the bathroom soaking wet with Thea wrapped in Oliver's large fluffy towel. Felicity made a note to get a towel like that. It was really soft and nice. Oliver was waiting anxiously by the door with clothes in his hand.

"I got a pants and shirt for her," Oliver said holding out the clothes to Felicity.

"I am not struggling with another pair of pants. The shirt should be enough," Felicity commented.

Oliver put the shirt over Thea and Felicity manoeuvred her hands into it and then took the towel away.

"We should get her to drink a bottle of water," Felicity said.

"I have one on my bed stand for her," Oliver said as he picked up Thea and placed her on his bed.

He got her to sit up for a moment and drink the bottle before she passed out on the bed.

"At least one of us gets to sleep tonight," Oliver said with a sigh.

Felicity took the waste basket in Oliver's bathroom and placed it on the ground next to Thea. "In case she needs it."

"Felicity, thank you for your help," Oliver said. "Do you need a coat?"

"A coat?" Felicity asked confused.

"You're soaking wet and its cold outside. I don't want you to get pneumonia," he told her sincerely.

"Oh, I guess a coat would be nice," she agreed.

Oliver went to his closet and pulled out a black pea coat.

Felicity slipped into the coat easily. "I'll bring it back in the morning," Felicity said. It was very warm and comfy.

Oliver nodded.

Felicity walked briskly back to her apartment. She took the coat off and threw it in the dryer for a few seconds and then hung it up by the door to return to Oliver the next day.

* * *

Oliver hadn't slept for a second since Felicity left. Instead he paced his bedroom thinking about how his sister had reached to this point in her life. As far as he knew, she was doing great. He hadn't heard any complaints about late partying or drinking from his mother or father. Maybe they didn't know. Maybe Isabel was concealing how bad things were with Thea from him and his mother. Whatever was going on he needed to have a serious conversation with his sister. This path she was on was dangerous and very self destructive.

His alarm clock went off, altering him to the fact that is was 6:00am and time time for his morning exercise routine. Thea stirred a bit but she went straight back to sleep. He had another bottle of water on the bed stand for when she woke up. She was not getting any pain medication. She was going to have to suffer the consequences of her actions.

He decided on no morning job since he didn't want to leave his sister unattended. He would skip straight through to the push-ups, core exercises and burpees. Fifteen minutes into his routine there was a knock at the door. He wasn't expecting anyone. He grabbed a shirt pulled it over his head and answered the door. Felicity was standing there dressed in a fresh pair of jeans and a MIT sweater with his coat, coffee and breakfast.

"Hi, I brought your coat back and breakfast as well," Felicity said holding the items out to him. "How is she doing?"

"Still asleep," he answered as he opened the door wider for her to come in. "She's still in the bedroom you can take a look."

Felicity went off to his room and his cell phone started ringing. It was his mother.

"Hello mom," Oliver greeted her.

"Darling, I just wanted to wish you luck with the big meeting today," she said proudly.

Oliver sighed, there was no way he could go to that meeting with Thea still unconscious.

"How do you know about the investor meeting at 10:00am?" Oliver asked.

"Oliver your father and I may be divorced but I am still the second largest shareholder in the company. I do keep tabs on my investment," she said to him.

He contemplated not telling her that he wasn't going but it was his mother and she would find out. "Something has come up and I don't think I can make the meeting."

"Oliver," there was that disappointed tone he was so accustomed to.

"Mom can we talk about this later," he said. He didn't want to tell her about Thea yet until he found out what was going on.

"No I think we need to talk about this now," his mother said in a firm voice.

He heard Thea's phone start to ring in his bedroom. His mother was busy lecturing him on responsibility and he popped his head into the bedroom. Felicity was adjusting the pillow under Thea's head. Oliver knocked the door to gain her attention and pointed at his sister's phone. 'Answer it,' he mouthed it to her.

'Me,' she whispered back pointing both hands at herself.

'Yes.'

He walked back into the main living area. His mother was still droning on and he had to bite his tongue to tell her that she was neglecting her responsibility to Thea. Felicity came back into the living area and put Thea's phone down on the coffee table.

"Mom," he interrupted her, "I will think about what you said but I have another call on the other line. It's dad."

"Ok darling, I hope you do take what I said to heart," she said.

"I will," he said before hanging up.

"Who was that on the phone," he said nodding his head at Thea's phone.

"Oh some girl called Brittany. Thea's car is at her house. She wants her to pick it up now," Felicity explained.

Oliver scowled, "They left her alone last night. The car could wait."

Felicity chewed on her bottom lip, "If you have to go to work I can watch her for you," she offered.

"Don't you have work?" he questioned.

"I planned on working from home today. My car needs a little attention," she said.

"Shit," Oliver cursed, "I promise your car will be cleaned Felicity. I'll get Thea's car sometime today and you can use that."

"I can't just use her car," Felicity said rejecting the idea immediately.

"You can, it's going to be part of her punishment. Are you sure you can work from home," he asked. "Because you can borrow my car."

"Yes," she replied confidently. "I don't need your Porsche."

"So you know my mother and you can work from home, what do you do?" Oliver asked curiously.

"I wouldn't say that I know your mother. I met her once. My former boss was proposing to his wife on the same night as one of her charity dinners so since he clearly couldn't make it I had to go. That was how I met her," Felicity explained.

"Former boss?" Oliver questioned further.

"Yes I left that company," Felicity answered.

"Where are you now?"

"My own company," she answered proudly.

A second alarm went off to let Oliver know he should be getting ready to leave the apartment now.

"Crap, I have to go soon," he said.

Felicity clapped her hands together, "I'll go get my stuff while you get dressed."

Oliver nodded. He hit the shower and then dressed in his charcoal three piece suit for the meeting. When he opened the door to let Felicity in she stood there staring at him. She was still dressed in the same clothes but she had a laptop bag with her.

"Earth to Felicity," he said waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, my brain occasionally needs to reboot," she said with a slight blush. "It's all done now."

"You sure you're fine," he asked uncertainty.

"Yeap," she said popping the p and nodding her head. "Back to 100% processing power, I'm great," she gave him a thumbs up and ushered him out the door, "Good luck with your meeting. I'll text you when Thea wakes up."

"I didn't give you my number," Oliver from outside his apartment.

"You don't need to. The perks of being a Tech genius," she said with a wink before she closed the door to his apartment on him. Oliver glanced at his watch and realised he really needed to get going.

Oliver arrived at Queen Consolidated underground parking lot at 7:20am. By the time he pulled into his spot and took the elevator up to the executive floor it was 7:28am. He forgoes stopping in his office in favour of heading to his father's office first. Lisa, his father's Executive Assistant, waved him straight in. His father was already seated behind the conference table in his office with all the meeting documents in front of him. When he walked through the door his father glanced at the time and then looked back at the folder. There was no talk about time which Oliver was grateful for. He took the seat opposite his father quickly. He was hoping to get out of there quickly but his father hand another lecture for him.

"You may think it's ok to party all night and come to work but I want you at 100% when you're here," his father said sternly.

Oliver clenched his fists. "I did not party all night."

"Oliver, I'm your father, I know when you're been up all night. I saw this look through your late teens into your early twenties," his father reminded him.

"I was not partying. I couldn't sleep," Oliver lied to protect Thea. He wasn't prepared to tell his father either. Both his parents had failed him when he was growing up and they had yet to learn from their mistakes.

"And I know when you're lying to me Oliver," his father pointed his index finger at him accusingly.

Something in Oliver snapped. "Oh don't pretend to be a good father stating all these things from the past. You were never there!"

"I was there for you Oliver. You shut me out!" Robert shouted back.

"You were never there, just like you weren't there for Thea last night," Oliver spat.

"Thea?" his father asked confused.

Oliver realised his mistake. "Forget it, let's just get on with work," Oliver said.

"No you made a statement. Thea is fine," Robert insisted.

"Really where is she right at this moment?" Oliver asked leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

"At school, the driver took her this morning," Robert replied confidently.

"Wrong, she's passed out on my bed," Oliver replied.

Robert showed no reaction, "I'll talk to her."

"How can you talk to her when you don't know what's going on in her life? You let Isabel feed you whatever lies she wants," Oliver said to him.

"Oliver, I will not tolerate you saying disparaging remarks about my wife," Robert snapped angrily.

"Who told you the driver took Thea to school?" Oliver challenged.

"I made an assumption," Robert replied.

"Who's lying now?" Oliver asked leaning back in his seat.

"You set a bad example for your sister," Robert replied.

Oliver threw his hands up in the air. It was always the same thing with his father. Nothing ever changed. "And you're repeating all the mistakes you made with me."

"If she didn't look up to her big brother so much, it would be easier," Robert said exasperated.

Oliver sighed. He knew they could just go on for hours hurling accusations at each other and that wouldn't help Thea. Something had to change. He was learning in business that sometimes you had to make compromises and he decided for Thea he would offer his father and Oliver branch. "After our meeting we will both leave and talk to Thea," Oliver offered.

Robert looked at him seriously, "Six months ago you would have just dropped Thea home and not said a word to me."

"This cycle is getting us nowhere. It's time for a change," Oliver answered.

Robert nodded and then changed topic to meeting prep which went quickly. Oliver returned to his office with half an hour before the investors arrived. He decided to run a google search. He typed _Felicity Tech Company_ into the search bar and pressed enter. Numerous hits loaded.

The first hit was a tech article about the start of Smoak Technologies. Oliver clicked on the link. There was a picture of Felicity at the top of the article with a tall man he knew he had met before. He read the caption on the photo. The man was Dr. Ray Palmer. It was an old photo from the archive when Felicity was the Vice President of Palmer Technologies.

Felicity was Felicity Smoak. She was well accomplished graduating at 21 with two master degrees from MIT before starting work with Dr. Palmer. Last year she struck out on her own with Smoak Technologies, a company dedicated to providing customised cyber security to companies. The article spoke very highly of her. He closed that one and opened the next link which took him to Wayne Enterprises website where there was a picture of Bruce Wayne and Felicity together shaking hands. Bruce had hired Felicity to build all the firewalls for his company. There hadn't been a single breech since she installed the new system.

He stared at the picture. Felicity was dressed in blue dress and was smiling widely at Bruce who was smiling as well but Oliver knew, he was secretly checking Felicity out. Bruce was a jerk. Why was she wasting her smiles on him?

His executive assistant interrupted his research to inform him that the investors had arrived. Oliver closed google, grabbed his meeting documents and headed to the main conference room. His phone pinged with a message from an unknown number.

_She's still asleep._

_Good luck with your meeting._

_F_

Oliver's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. How the hell did she get his private number?

* * *

Felicity was busy coding a firewall for a new client when she heard a low groan from the bedroom. The young Queen was waking up. Felicity closed her laptop and placed it on Oliver's coffee table. She stretched her limbs and prepared to face the waking Queen. She glanced at the clock at it was well after 1:00pm.

"Good afternoon," Felicity said as she entered the bedroom.

"Not so loud please," Thea groaned. Her head was under the pillow hiding from the light in the room.

Felicity sat at the edge of the bed, opened the bottle of water and offered it to her. "Water."

"Aspirin would be good," Thea moaned.

"No, you had way too much to drink last night. No medications. You really scared your brother," Felicity told the younger girl.

Thea snorted, "He's done so much worse," she said reaching blindly for the bottle of water. Felicity placed it in her hand and the bottle disappeared under the pillow. "Are you his latest floozy?"

"Thea!" Oliver admonished from the doorway. "Don't be rude to my neighbour. You threw up all over her car and she still helped me. Speaking of which," he said dangling the keys to a BMW in his hand. "

The pillow disappeared quickly and Thea sat up, "You can't give her my car!" The motion must have been too quick because she held her head in her hands. "It hurts," she moaned.

"He can and you're going to see about getting Ms. Smoak's car cleaned," another voice said appearing at the door way. He threw a duffel bag on the bed. "Raisa packed some clothes for you. Get dressed. We need to talk young Lady."

"You told dad!" Thea screeched in a betrayed voice.

"I'll just get going," Felicity said realising she was in the middle of some family drama. She tried to sneak past Oliver but he grabbed her hand and placed the BMW keys in it.

"There's a Big Belly Buster in the kitchen with extra fries and a chocolate milkshake for you," he said.

"You remembered!" Felicity said touched that someone like Oliver Queen would remember her burger order.

"Ms. Smoak it's nice to see you again," Robert Queen said getting her attention.

"Reconsidered my proposal yet?" she asked him in a professional tone.

"We can discuss that another day right now I have more important matters to attend to,"

"Right, I'll just be grabbing my burger and I'll be on my way," Felicity said. She went to the kitchen picked up the bag labelled Felicity and left.

Her car was still parked in front Oliver's apartment next to his Porsche so she wondered where the BMW was. She walked to her apartment and there in front of it was a brand new BMW 5 series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. :)


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